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So I'll be starting the triple special weapons chimera vets tactic soon. Expensive yet a viable option for IG to get what's important where it needs to be. There will be squads of all meltas and all plasmas with psykers and demos to hit up re rolls profits. The age old discussion multi lasers or bolters but not which is better. The question is which is better in conjunction with the special weapons inside.

Bolters with the meltas? So they can hit up the infantry the meltas don't have the volume of shots to take down? Or multi lasers to pose some kind of semi overkill threat to light/side armor?

Or should the plasmas get the bolters to help mess with flying mc.

Either way I'm not thinking flamers. camo nets on them either way for tree hugging and storm bolters for that couple more shots. Eventually the transport dies delivering the vets to the objective they are meant to grab but they still need bite for as long as they are alive.

Last important note, the tactic is not to spam chimeras. These are specialized squads in specialized transports for specific jobs. I'm not talking bum rushing mass vanilla units (nothing against it but it's not what I'm going for). Also clarification on psykers effecting the shooting on dedicated transports would be nice, I don't usually use transports as shooting platforms so I'm not used to the rules on who can shoot what if it moves 12"

Thanks guys

The Mathhammer on Chimera loadouts is a chore, but I will say this; If you're following guard doctrine, i.e. take a hard counter to everything then get another one, in this case against objective campers , the multilaser is the better choice.

With the ML you're denying Skitarii FNP/2wounds, and getting 17% more wounds against MEQ. You're also improving your FMC threat range as nearly anything worth taking in that sphere has either an invul or 3+ save, although frankly you're not going to get a good ROI with chims against FMC regardless.

Since you have two or three units with ignores cover with the CS and optionally with a template using hellhound variant, the ML offers the more reliable multi-threat answer, whereas the HB is better for your main battle line.

On the other hand - if you're serious about get in, hit hard and hold, you're probably better thinking about the flamer after all. If you're taking your turn 1 18" move to blitz towards the objective, the ranged loadout is rather academic compared to what you can get up to when closing, i.e. barbeque multi level ruins.

As for the psykers, pass - since the FAQ has effectively said 'models in transports cease to exist except for shooting' I don't know when we'll have a viable answer.

Alright so perhaps the bolter should go on the ccs squad one because they need to stay within 12 of the infantry for orders, not to mention bubble wrap and nets give it a 3+save

Multilasers are the obvious better choice. STR 6 is better than STR 5, and AP 4 just isn't relevant all that often.

i've done a lot of research, and have found my personal preference is to go Autocannon.

I put a heavy weapons team via the Vets inside, with an Autocannon of their own. That's 4 shots.

I go heavy bolter, tho i like hFlamer more, since it's matching the concept of av4 and decent range.

that's just me

I too prefer the Autocannon option, especially when the Chimera is functioning as a stationary command bunker for the first few turns. Give the Command Squad inside and Autocannon and you have some nice str 7 shooting. I also run the heavy flamer with it because, though it doesn't always fire, when it does it always counts.

ExFideFortis wrote:
I also run the heavy flamer with it because, though it doesn't always fire, when it does it always counts.

That's pretty much why I always run a HHF. The HHB works better for mathammer, but when you do use the HHF, it always has a profound impact. The HHB will kill a model or two all game, max.

Mathammer is what is it is, but I have profound bad luck with multi-lasers. Autocannons are best, H.Bolters are great against Eldar troops that don't have 'wraith' in the name. And if you can get close H. Flamers are still absolutely beautiful. Prefer the turret to the hull though, as it's more versatile.

One of the nice changes to the latest IG/AM codex is the ability to give vets, PCS and CCS heavy flamers. I always take advantage of that and go double melta or double plasma with an HF for all squads I expect to advance into the teeth of things (the CCS I usually have hang back, give orders and drop MoO pies).

There are three reasons for this:

1.) If you're close enough to use it, they're the best option for clearing objectives, which is what your mechanized infantry are supposed to be all about.

2.) When you're not close enough, you can only fire two weapons out of the hatch anyway and it's almost never a good idea for the vets to voluntarily dismount if you want to keep them alive. They're your mobile units, so keep them mobile and keep them alive by having focus on drive-bys. If you're doing that, there's no real reason for the third melta or plasma, unless one of them plasmas themselves, which, fair enough, happens a lot.

3.) Most importantly, I take the HF's for defense. HF overwatch is no joke. Chimeras are very vulnerable to being charged and your chances of causing wounds with an D3 S5 AP4 hits + something else in overwatch is a lot better than hoping for two melta 6's and you're statistically just as likely of killing yourself as your enemy with plasma in overwatch. I've killed all sorts of stuff with overwatching HF's out of chimera hatches -- carnifexes, jet bikes and tons of Orks. Has saved the unit tons of times.